-Caveat Lector- ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Burghardt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, September 22, 2000 2:53 PM Subject: [AFIB] Anthropology, Eugenics, Genocide > DISCLAIMER: Antifa Info-Bulletin neither accepts nor endorses paid > advertisements. Please ignore any ads above/below the content of this > message; they have been inserted by the listserv not AFIB. > > _______________________________ > > ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN > News * Analysis * Research * Action > _______________________________ > > SPECIAL EDITION > - September 22, 2000 - > > * * * > ______________________________________________________________________________ > > ANTHROPOLOGY, EUGENICS, GENOCIDE: > Hideous Human Experimentation Tied to National Security State-Linked > "Anthropologists" > ______________________________________________________________________________ > > CONTENTS: > > 1. AFIB: Fascism's "Scientific" Face. > 2. THE CHRONICLES OF HIGHER EDUCATION [US]: Scholars Fear that Alleged > Misdeeds by Amazon Anthropologists will Taint Entire Discipline. > 3. Details of Genocidal Experiments on the Yanomami People by National > Security State-linked "Academics". > > * * * > ____________________________________________________________________ > > FASCISM'S "SCIENTIFIC" FACE > ____________________________________________________________________ > > By Tom Burghardt > Editor, Antifa Info-Bulletin > > Under cover of "national security", gruesome Nazi-like projects were > carried out by the U.S. National Security State throughout the Cold War > period and beyond. When revelations emerged several years ago that the U.S. > Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) sponsored "medical" research that injected > gravely ill patients with radioactive plutonium with neither their > knowledge nor their consent, a firestorm gripped Washington and forced the > Energy Department to release thousands of pages of files documenting the > hideous trail of suffering and death inflicted by government-funded > "research." (See Eileen Welsome's 1993 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The > Plutonium Experiment" in The Albuquerque Journal, November 15-17 1993). > > Now a new book slated for release next month by investigative journalist > Patrick Tierney, "Darkness in El Dorado," New York, W.W. Norton & Co., > threatens to rip the mask of respectability from the faces of several > prominent anthropologists who conducted genocidal experiments on the > Yanomami people of Venezuela in the late 1960s--with funds provided once > again by the AEC. > > At the center of the controversy is James V. Neel, a human geneticist based > at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Neel died last February. > According to Tierney, Neel and his colleagues injected the Yanomami with an > experimental vaccine for measles--with predictable and disastrous results. > According to galley proofs of Tierney's forthcoming book provided to > anthropologists opposed to such "research", Neel and his team knew well in > advance that the vaccine, which medical researchers maintain must never be > given to people who lack any natural immunity to the disease such as the > Yanomami, produced measle-like symptoms that were fatal "to hundreds, > perhaps thousands" of Amazonian tribespeople. Evidence has surfaced that > Neel knew such unethical experimentation would produce a mass outbreak of > the disease but proceeded despite this knowledge in order to "prove" his > racist theories of eugenics and male dominance. > > There is also evidence that Neel and others, in collaboration with corrupt > Venezuelan officials and U.S. multinational mining corporations conspired > to "open-up" Yanomami lands to illegal gold-mining concessions with the > anthropologists providing necessary "cover" for developers. > > While one wing of the National Security State showered cash for unethical > "medical research" described by one experimenter as having "a little of the > Buchenwald touch," the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency virtually invented > the field of "mass communications research" as a component of U.S. > "psychological operations" at home and abroad. (See: Christopher Simpson, > Science of Coercion, New York, Oxford University Press, 1994). According to > Simpson: > > "Government psychological warfare programs helped shape mass communication > research into a distinct scholarly field, strongly influencing the choice > of leaders and determining which of the competing scientific paradigms of > communication would be funded, elaborated, and encouraged to prosper. The > state usually did not directly determine what scientists could or could not > say, but it did significantly influence the selection of who would do the > 'authoritative' talking in the field." > > With Tierney's revelations, we now are beginning to learn that the National > Security State's "public-private partnership" extended into the field of > social science and anthropology--with disastrous results for the victims of > government-funded criminality. > > That "scientists" such as Neel and others described in the reports below > would engage in experiments that held the potential of genocide in order to > "prove" fascistic theories of "genetic male dominance" with its > unmistakable subtext of white supremacy should come as no surprise to AFIB > readers. Indeed, the origins of eugenics research and its heinous > application by Hitler's Nazi regime are inextricably linked to racist > practices in the U.S. by American-based eugenics researchers and lawmakers > during the 1920s and '30s. (See: Stefan Kuhl, The Nazi Connection: > Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism, New York, Oxford > University Press, 1994). > > As spurious ideologies of "sociobiology" and eugenics enjoy a resurgence > among European and North American academics tied to the U.S. National > Security State and neo-Nazi outfits such as the Pioneer Fund, racist and > fascist discourse on an allegedly "criminal black underclass" are tailored > to today's "lock 'em up and throw away the key" mentality that permeates > the U.S. ruling class and well-funded "scholarly" pit-bulls at a score of > North American universities. Is it really a surprise that those who today > deem an entire generation of black and working class youth "expendable", so > much fodder to be trampled underfoot by killer cops, racist courts and the > so-called "prison-industrial complex", trace their theoretical lineage to > "scientists" who deserve nothing less than the fate dished out to Hitler's > underlings at Nuremburg? > > At the very least, those who conducted genocidal experiments on the > Yanomami people must by brought to task for their crimes. But those who > funded and clandestinely approved of such "research" as a means to preserve > a criminal American capitalist order rooted in a history of genocide, > slavery and plunder must also be exposed, confronted and brought to account. > > As the "world's sole superpower" continues to bask in the glory of having > "won the Cold War" against an alleged "Evil Empire", once more we ask: when > will "glasnost" force imperialism to reveal the full extent of its heinous > crimes against humanity? > > ***** > ________________________________________________________________________________ > > SCHOLARS FEAR THAT ALLEGED MISDEEDS BY AMAZON ANTHROPOLOGISTS WILL TAINT > ENTIRE DISCIPLINE > ________________________________________________________________________________ > > THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION > Wednesday, September 20, 2000 > http://chronicle.com/free/2000/09/2000092001n.htm > By D.W. MILLER > > Some anthropologists fear that their discipline faces a scandal because of > the imminent publication of a book charging several prominent researchers > with egregious misbehavior in their work with Amazon tribes. Some scholars > are calling on the American Anthropological Association to investigate the > charges, while one of those accused says he is trying to prevent The New > Yorker from publishing an excerpt from the book without his reply. > > In Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the > Amazon, which will be published by W.W. Norton within the next couple of > months, an investigative journalist named Patrick Tierney accuses certain > researchers of fomenting deadly disease and violence among the Yanomami, an > indigenous people of Venezuela. Some scholars are worried that the > allegations will make it harder for all cultural anthropologists who do > fieldwork to persuade their subjects and the public that they are > responsible, objective, and trustworthy. > > Some of those whose standards are under attack say the book's claims are > inaccurate. > > Advance copies of the book are hard to come by, because the publisher has > run out of galley proofs and won't have more until the finished books are > printed in the next month or so. Mr. Tierney was not available for comment. > But two anthropologists who have read the proofs were moved to write to the > president and the president-elect of the American Anthropological > Association, describing the book in detail and asking that the association > respond to the charges. > > In an e-mail message intended only for the officers, but obtained by The > Chronicle, the scholars write that "impending scandal" will damage the > discipline's public image and "arouse intense indignation and calls for > action" among members of the association. "In its scale, ramifications, and > sheer criminality and corruption," the scandal "is unparalleled in the > history of anthropology." > > Mr. Tierney spent 10 years on the book, which criticizes scholars and > journalists for abetting the demise of the Yanomami, a remote tribe in the > Amazon river basin. The Yanomami have attracted the intense interest of > scholars since the 1960's, in part because they seemed relatively untouched > by the influences of modern industrial society. In books such as Napoleon > A. Chagnon's The Yanomamo, now in its fifth edition, scholars have > documented the violent nature of that people and suggested that such > behavior is natural in premodern societies. > > According to the e-mail message, which has been circulating widely among > anthropologists, Mr. Tierney outlines his view that scholars have been > violating professional ethics in their research for the last 30 years -- to > the detriment of the Yanomami. > > One of his most explosive charges is that in 1968, James V. Neel, a human > geneticist at the University of Michigan and a pioneering researcher of the > Yanomami who died last February, deliberately injected tribespeople with a > controversial vaccine for measles. Among those who, like the Yanomami, > lacked any natural immunity to measles, the vaccine was known to cause > measles-like symptoms and proved deadly to hundreds, perhaps thousands. > Even after the epidemic began, according to the book, Mr. Neel prevented > the afflicted from receiving medical treatment. > > The authors of the e-mail message, Terence Turner of Cornell University and > Leslie E. Sponsel of the University of Hawaii-Manoa, go on to infer Mr. > Neel's motives from Mr. Tierney's reporting. According to the scholars' > letter, Mr. Neel caused the measles epidemic in order to test his eugenic > theories about the evolutionary utility of male domination. In Mr. Neel's > view, write the e-mail's authors, "'natural' human society ... consisted of > small, genetically isolated groups, in which ... dominant genes > (specifically, a gene he believed existed for 'leadership' or 'innate > ability') would have a selective advantage, because male carriers of this > gene could gain access to a disproportionate share of the available > females." > > Mr. Turner, who was chairman of an anthropological commission on the > Brazilian Yanomami, and Mr. Sponsel, who has edited several volumes on > endangered indigenous cultures, speculate that Mr. Neel was hoping to > prove, against the scientific consensus, that small, genetically isolated > groups were not, in fact, more vulnerable to diseases spread by other > populations. > > Mr. Neel is not alive to respond to the book's allegations, but other > researchers come in for criticism, too. For instance, the book offers new > information for old charges that Mr. Chagnon falsified evidence in his > studies. It claims that Mr. Chagnon, a retired anthropologist and former > colleague of Mr. Neel's, had encouraged Yanomami villages to stage fights > with each other so that he could film them, and that these re-creations > fostered bitterness that led to real violence long after the cameras had > been packed up. The book also says that Mr. Chagnon participated in Mr. > Neel's vaccine project. > > When contacted for comment on the book, Mr. Chagnon declined to be > interviewed, citing past coverage of his research and its critics in The > Chronicle that he considers unfair. But he has sent an e-mail message to > colleagues, inviting them to help him defend himself. > > In that message, he condemned Mr. Sponsel and Mr. Turner's "scandalous > implications" and wrote that he was alerting former colleagues whose > reputations might also be harmed by the book. > > So far, the association has not responded publicly to the allegations. > According to Glenn Baly, a spokesman for the association, officers will > release a statement about the book today. Until then, the association will > not say whether it will formally investigate the matter. > > It is not clear that the association has the means to investigate or > discipline any scholar found to have violated its code of ethics. For one > thing, the association's committee on ethics no longer regards the > investigation of alleged violations to be part of its job. Instead, the > committee now serves mainly to educate association members about their > ethical responsibilities. > > In 1998, says Joe Watkins, an anthropologist with the Bureau of Indian > Affairs and the head of the ethics committee, "the association decided it > was no longer going to be a group that was going to go out and censure > anthropologists." > > Mr. Watkins hasn't yet read the book, and doesn't claim to speak for the > committee, which has not yet met to discuss the matter. But, he says, "if > such allegations as I've heard about might be shown to be true, or at least > indisputable, then I imagine the association might try to find a way to > sanction an individual." That might mean censure, he says, or a request > that the scholar resign from the organization. > > Mr. Watkins also says that the association might consider asking another, > neutral institution, such as the American Association for the Advancement > of Science, to adjudicate allegations of impropriety. "I think some sort of > investigation is necessary," he says. "Anthropology has had some black eyes > in the past decade, especially over treatment of native peoples. > > "If anthropology does not react and find out what basis in reality these > allegations have," he adds, "then anthropology is going to suffer, because > there's going to be lots of questions from foreign governments of anyone > who tries to initiate fieldwork." > > Kristen Hawkes, an anthropologist at the University of Utah and a > professional acquaintance of Mr. Chagnon's, calls Mr. Turner and Mr. > Sponsel's e-mail "inflammatory" and the book's charges "astonishing." > > "It's horrifying to see this happen to someone I know for careful science," > she says. "I find it completely unbelievable that he would participate in > anything damaging to the Yanomami. He's not a genocidal guy." > > The controversy, which has been the subject of quiet debate among > anthropologists, is about to find a mass audience. The New Yorker will > publish an excerpt of Darkness in El Dorado in early October, and the book > will reach bookstores soon after. > > According to his e-mail message to colleagues, Mr. Chagnon is discussing > the article with the magazine's editors to ensure it does not libel him, > and is considering an offer to "publish my side of the story" in the same > issue. A spokeswoman for the magazine declined to comment. > > That will surely not be Mr. Chagnon's only opportunity to defend his work. > Barbara Johnston, the head of the anthropology association's committee on > human rights, is trying to organize a forum at the anthropologists' annual > meeting in November. Although Mr. Chagnon has been invited to join Mr. > Tierney, Mr. Turner, and Mr. Sponsel on a panel there, he has already > declined to be part of what he calls in his e-mail message a "feeding > frenzy in which I am the bait." > > Copyright 2000 by The Chronicle of Higher Education > Courtesy of an AFIB subscriber. > > ***** > ____________________________________________________________________ > > DETAILS OF GENOCIDAL EXPERIMENTS ON THE YANOMAMI PEOPLE > BY NATIONAL SECURITY STATE-LINKED "SCIENTISTS" > ____________________________________________________________________ > > Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 12:08:06 -0400 To: Louise Lamphere, President, > American Anthropological Association ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Don Brenneis, President-elect, American Anthropological Association > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > From: Terry Turner, Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University. Head of > the Special Commission of the American Anthropological Association to > Investigate the Situation of the Brazilian Yanomami, 1990-91 > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Leslie Sponsel, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Hawaii, > Manoa. Chair of the AAA Committee for Human Rights 1992-1996 > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > In re: Scandal about to be caused by publication of book by Patrick Tierney > (Darkness in El Dorado. New York. Norton. Publication date: October 1, > 2000). > > Cc. > Barbara Johnston, Chair, Committee for Human Rights > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Joe E. Watkins, Chair, Committee on Ethics ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Joanne Rappaport, President, Society for Latin American Anthropology > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > Ruben G. Mendoza, President, Association of Latina and Latino Anthropology > > Madam President, Mr. President-elect: > > We write to inform you of an impending scandal that will affect the > American Anthropological profession as a whole in the eyes of the public, > and arouse intense indignation and calls for action among members of the > Association. In its scale, ramifications, and sheer criminality and > corruption it is unparalleled in the history of Anthropology. The AAA will > be called upon by the general media and its own membership to take > collective stands on the issues it raises, as well as appropriate > redressive actions. All of this will obviously involve you as Presidents of > the Association-so the sooner you know about the story that is about to > break, the better prepared you can be to deal with it. > > Both of us have seen galley copies of a book by Patrick Tierney, an > investigative journalist, about the actions of anthropologists and > associated scientific researchers (notably geneticists and medical > experimenters) among the Yanomami of Venezuela over the past thirty-five > years. Because of the sensational nature of its revelations, the notoriety > of the people it exposes, and the prestige of the organs of the academic > establishment it implicates, the book is bound to be widely read both > outside and inside the profession. As both an indication and a vector of > its public impact, we have learned that The New Yorker magazine is planning > to publish an extensive excerpt, timed to coincide with the publication of > the book (on or about October 1st). > > The focus of the scandal is the long-term project for study of the Yanomami > of Venezuela organized by James Neel, the human geneticist, in which > Napoleon Chagnon, Timothy Asch, and numerous other anthropologists took > part. The French anthropologist Jacques Lizot, who also works with the > Yanomami but is not part of Neel-Chagnon project, also figures in a > different scandalous capacity. > > One of Tierney's more startling revelations is that the whole Yanomami > project was an outgrowth and continuation of the Atomic Energy Comissions > secret program of experiments on human subjects James Neel, the originator > and director of the project, was part of the medical and genetic research > team attached to the Atomic Energy Commission since the days of the > Manhattan Project. He was a member of the small group of researchers > responsible for studying the effects of radiation on human subjects. He > personally headed the team that investigated the effects of the Hiroshima > and Nagasaki bombs on survivors,. He was put in charge of the study of the > effects of atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and later was involved > in the studies of the effects of the radioactivity from the experimental A > and H bomb blasts in the Marshall Islands on the natives. The same group > also secretly carried out experiments on human subjects in the USA. These > included injecting people with radioactive plutonium without their > knowledge or permission,in some cases leading to their death or > disfigurement (Neel himself appears not to have given any of these > experimental injections). Another member of the same AEC group of human > geneticists and medical experimenters, a Venezuelan, Marcel Roche, was a > close colleague of Neel's and spent some time at his AEC-funded center for > Human Genetics at Ann Arbor. He returned to Venezuela after the war and did > a study of the Yanomami that involved administering doses of a radioactive > isotope of iodine and analyzing samples of blood for genetic data. Roche > and his project were apparently the connection that led Neel to choose the > Yanomami for his big study of the genetics of "leadership" and differential > rates of reproduction among dominant and sub-dominant males in a > genetically "isolated" human population. There is thus a genealogical > connection between the the human experiments carried out by the AEC, and > Neel's and Chagnon's Yanomami project, which was from the outset funded by > the AEC. > > Tierney presents convincing evidence that Neel and Chagnon, on their trip > to the Yanomami in 1968, greatly exacerbated, and probably started, the > epidemic of measles that killed "hundreds, perhaps thousands" (Tierney's > language-the exact figure will never be known) of Yanomami. The epidemic > appears to have been caused, or at least worsened and more widely spread, > by a campaign of vaccination carried out by the research team, which used a > virulent vaccine (Edmonson B) that had been counter-indicated by medical > experts for use on isolated populations with no prior exposure to measles > (exactly the Yanomami situation). Even among populations with prior contact > and consequent partial genetic immunity to measles, the vaccine was > supposed to be used only with supportive injections of gamma globulin. It > was known to produce effects virtually indistinguishable from the disease > of measles itself. > > Medical experts, when informed that Neel and his group used the vaccine in > question on the Yanomami, typically refuse to believe it at first, then say > that it is incredible that they could have done it, and are at a loss to > explain why they would have chosen such an inappropriate and dangerous > vaccine. There is no record that Neel sought any medical advice before > applying the vaccine. He never informed the appropriate organs of the > Venezuelan government that his group was planning to carry out a > vaccination campaign, as he was legally required to do. Neither he nor any > other member of the expedition, including Chagnon and the other > anthropologists, has ever explained why that vaccine was used, despite the > evidence that it actually caused or at a minimum greatly exacerbated the > fatal epidemic. > > Once the measles epidemic took off, closely following the vaccinations with > Edmonson B, the members of the research team refused to provide any medical > assistance to the sick and dying Yanomami, on explicit orders from Neel. He > insisted to his colleagues that they were only there to observe and record > the epidemic, and that they must stick strictly to their roles as > scientists, not provide medical help. > > All this is bad enough, but the probable truth that emerges, by > implication, from Tierney's documentation is more chilling. There was, it > turns out, a compelling theoretical motive for Neel to want to observe an > epidemic of measles, or comparable "contact" disease, or at least an > outbreak virtually indistinguishable from the real thing-precisely the > effect that the vaccine he chose was known to cause-and to produce one for > this purpose if necessary. This motive emerges from Teirney's documentation > of Neel's extreme eugenic theories and his documented statements about what > he was hoping to find among the Yanomami, interpreted against the > background of his long association with the Atomic Energy Commission's > secret experiments on human subjects. > > Neel believed that "natural" human society (as it existed everywhere before > the advent of large-scale agricultural societies and contemporary states > with their vast populations) consisted of small, genetically isolated > groups, in which, according to his eugenically slanted genetic theories, > dominant genes (specifically, a gene he believed existed for "leadership" > or "innate ability") would have a selective advantage, because male > carriers of this gene could gain access to a disproportionate share of the > available females, thus reproducing their own superior genes more > frequently than less "innately able" males. The result, supposedly, would > be the continual upgrading of the human genetic stock. Modern mass > societies, by contrast, consist of vast genetically entropic "herds" in > which, he theorized, recessive genes could not be eliminated by selective > competition and superior leadership genes would be swamped by mass genetic > mediocrity. The political implication of this fascistic eugenics is clearly > that society should be reorganized into small breeding isolates in which > genetically superior males could emerge into dominance, eliminating or > subordinating the male losers in the competition for leadership and women, > and amassing harems of brood females. > > A big problem for this program, however, was the tendency, generally > recognized by virtually all qualified population geneticists and > epidemiologists, for small breeding isolates to lack genetic resistance to > diseases incubated in other groups, and their consequent vulnerability to > contact epidemics. For Neel, this meant that the emergence of genetically > superior males in small breeding isolates would tend to be undercut and > neutralized by epidemic diseases to which they would be genetically > vulnerable, while the supposedly genetically entropic mass societies of > modern democratic states, the antitheses of Neel's ideal > alpha-male-dominated groups, would be better adapted for developing genetic > immunity to such "contact" diseases. > > It is known that Neel, virtually alone among contemporary geneticists, > rejected the genetic (and historical) evidence for the vulnerability of > genetically isolated groups to diseases introduced through contact from > other populations. It is possible that he thought that genetically superior > members of such groups might prove to have differential levels of immunity > and thus higher rates of survival to imported diseases. In such a case, > such exogenous epidemics, despite the enormous losses of general population > they inflict, might actually be shown to increase the relative proportion > of genetically superior individuals to the total population, and thus be > consistent with Neel's eugenic program. However this may have been, > Tierney's well-documented account, in its entirety, strongly supports the > conclusion that the epidemic was in all probabilty deliberately caused as > an experiment designed to produce scientific support for Neel's eugenic > theory. > > This remains only an inference in the present state of our knowledge: there > is no "smoking gun" in the form of a written text or recorded speech by > Neel. It is nevertheless the only explanation that makes sense of a number > of otherwise inexplicable facts, including Neel's known interest in > observing an epidemic in a small isolated group for which detailed records > of genetic and genealogical relations were available, his otherwise > inexplicable selection of a virulent vaccine known to produce effects > virtually identical with the disease itself, his behavior once the epidemic > had started (insisting on allowing it to run its course unhindered by > medical assistance while meticulously documenting its progress and the > genealogical relations of those who perished and those who survived) and > his own obdurate silence, until his death in February, as to why he > carried out the vaccination program in the first place, and above all with > the lethally dangerous vaccine. > > The same conclusion is reinforced by considering the objectives of the > anthropological research carried out by Chagnon under Neel's initial > direction and continued support. Chagnon's work has been consistently > directed toward portraying Yanomami society as exactly the kind of > originary human society envisioned by Neel, with dominant males (the most > frequent killers) having the most wives or sexual partners and offspring. > If this pristine, eugenically optimal society could be shown to survive a > contact epidemic with its structure of dominant male polygynists > essentially intact, regardless of quantitatively serious population losses, > Neel might plausibly be able to argue that his eugenic social vision was > vindicated. If the epidemic was indeed produced as an experiment, either > wholly or in part, the genetic studies on the correlation of blood group > samples and genealogies carried out by Chagnon and some of his students > thus formed integral parts of this massive, and massively fatal, human > experiment. > > As another reader of Tierney's ms commented, Mr. Tierney's analysis is a > case study of the dangers in science of the uncontrolled ego, of lack of > respect for life, and of greed and self-indulgence. It is a further > extraordinary revelation of malicious and perverted work conducted under > the aegis of the Atomic Energy Commission. > > Tierney's revelations begin, but do not end, with the 1968 epidemic. There > are many more episodes and sub-plots, almost equally awful, to his > narrative of the antics of anthropologists among the Yanomami. Enough has > been said by this time, however, for you to see that the Association is > going to have to make some collective response to this book, both to the > facts it documents and the probable conclusions it implies.There will be a > storm in the media, and another in the general scholarly community, and no > doubt several within anthropology itself. We must be ready. > > Tierney devotes much of the book to a critique of Napoleon Chagnon's work > (and actions). He makes clear Chagnon has faithfully striven, in his > ethnographic and theoretical accounts of the Yanomami, to represent them as > conforming to Neel's ideas about the Hobbesian savagery of "natural" human > societies , and how this constitutes the natural selective context for the > rise to social dominance and reproductive advantage of males with the gene > for "leadership" or "innate ability" (thus Chagnon's emphasis on Yanomami > "fierceness" and propensity for chronic warfare, and the supposed > statistical tendency for men who kill more enemies to have more female > sexual/reproductive partners). He documents how all these aspects of > Chagnon's account of the Yanomami are based on false, non-existent or > misinterpreted data. In other words, Chagnon's main claims about Yanomami > society, the ones that have been so much heralded by sociobiologists and > other partisans of his work, namely that men who kill more reproduce more > and have more female partners, and that such men become the dominant > leaders of their communities, are simply not true. Thirdly and most > troublingly, he reports that Chagnon has not stopped with cooking and > re-cooking his data on conflict but has actually attempted to manufacture > the phenomenon itself, actually fomenting conflicts between Yanomami > communities, not once but repeatedly. > > In his film work with Asch, for example, Chagnon induced Yanomami to enact > fights and aggressive behavior for Asch's camera, sometimes building whole > artificial villages as "sets" for the purpose, which were presented as > spontaneous slices of Yanomami life unaffected by the presence of the > anthropologists. Some of these unavowedly artificial scenarios, however, > actually turned into real conflicts, partly as a result of Chagnon's policy > of giving vast amounts of presents to the villages that agreed to put on > the docu-drama, which distorted their relations with their neighbors in > ways that encouraged outbreaks of raiding. In sum, most of the Yanomami > conflicts that Chagnon documents, that are the basis of his interpretation > of Yanomami society as a neo-Hobbesian system of endemic warfare, were > caused directly or indirectly by himself: a fact he invariably neglects to > report. > > This is not just a matter of bad ethnography or unreflexive theorizing: > Yanomami were maimed and killed in these conflicts, and whole communities > were disrupted to the point of fission and flight. (Brian Ferguson has also > documented some of this story, but Tierney adds much new evidence). As a > general point, it is clear that Chagnon's whole Yanomami oeuvre is more > radically continuous with Neel's eugenic theories, and his unethical > approach to experimentation on human subjects, than appears simply from a > reading of Chagnon's works by themselves. > > Chagnon is not the only anthropologist mentioned in Tierney's narrative. > Some of his students, like Hames and Good, are also dealt with (not so > unfavorably). The French anthropologist, Jaques Lizot, also gets a chapter. > He has had nothing to do with Neel or Chagnon (in fact has been a trenchant > and cogent critic of their work), but he has an Achilles heel of his own in > the form of a harem of Yanomami boys that he keeps, and showers with > presents in exchange for sexual favors (he has also been known to resort to > young girls when boys were unavailable). On the sexual front, there are > also passing references to Chagnon himself demanding that villagers bring > him girls for sex. There is still more, in the form of collusion by Neel > and Chagnon with sinister Venezuelan politicians attempting to gain control > of Yanomami lands for illegal gold mining concessions, with the > anthropologists providing "cover" for the illegal mine developer as a > "naturalist" collaborating with the anthropological researchers, in > exchange for the politician's guaranteeing continuing access to the Indians > for the anthropologists. > > This nightmarish story--a real anthropological heart of darkness beyond the > imagining of even a Josef Conrad (though not, perhaps, a Josef > Mengele)--will be seen (rightly in our view) by the public, as well as most > anthropologists, as putting the whole discipline on trial. As another > reader of the galleys put it, This book should shake anthropology to its > very foundations. It should cause the ield to understand how the corrupt > and depraved protagonists could have spread their poison for so long while > they were accorded great respect throughout the Western World and > generations of undergraduates received their lies as the introductory > substance of anthropology. This should never be allowed to happen again. > > We venture to predict that this reaction is fairly representative of the > response that will follow the publication of Tierney's book and the New > Yorker excerpt. Coming as they will less than two months before the San > Francisco meetings, these publication events virtually guarantee that the > Yanomami scandal will be at its height at the Meetings. This should give an > optimal opportunity for the Association to mobilize the membership and the > institutional structure to deal with it. The writers, both emeritus members > of the Committee for Human Rights, have arranged with Barbara Johnston, the > present chair of the CfHR, that the open Forum put on by the Committee this > year be devoted to the Yanomami case. This seemed the best way to provide a > venue for a public airing of the scandal, given that the program is of > course already closed. With Johnston's consent, we have invited Patrick > Tierney to come to the Meetings and be present at the Forum. He has > accepted. He has also agreed to have a copy of the book ms sent to > Johnston, for the use of the CfHR. We have also tentatively agreed with > Barbara that the CfHR should draft a press release, which the President > (either or both of you) could (if you and the Executive Board approve) > circulate to the media. There are obviously human rights aspects of this > case that make the CfHR appropriate, but the Ethics Committee, the Society > for Latin American Anthropology, and the Association for Latina and Latino > Anthropology should also be notified and involved, separately or jointly. > These obviously do not exhaust the possibilities--- a lot of thought and > planning remains to be done. Our point is simply that the time to start is > now. > > Courtesy of an AFIB subscriber. > > ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, material > appearing in Antifa Info-Bulletin is distributed without charge or profit > to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information > for research and educational purposes. 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